Lizanne Esterhuyse

Monday, November 16, 2009

The other day someone mentioned that every person these days who studied Public Relations start their own PR consultancy. This probably is true, it feels like every second PR students feels that they one day will have their own consultancy.I also would like to work for myself one day, who would not, especially when you want to start with a family. It would be nice to have more flexible hours, especially in the days we are living in. We hardly get time for ourselves anymore, when we add the hours that we sit in traffic, even less. That is probably the main reason I want to start my own thing, apart from the excitement, the money and all that other extras. But I would like to be able to cut out that morning and afternoon traffic. That does not mean that I would not work during those times, I would just do it at home and go into the office a little bit later.The most important thing when starting a business is motivation, working hard and obviously a creative idea. I am definitely not just going to start another PR consultancy. Luckily for us, the PR course we are taking opens so many doors for us. We do not have to stick only to PR. So watch this space, this girl is going places...

Frank Zappa is known as one of America’s best musicians, composers, and satirists, one who is not afraid to speak his mind. Following are some of his famous quotes:

• Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid• A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it's not open• Why do you necessarily have to be wrong just because a few million people think you are?• Politics is the entertainment branch of industry• Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is THE BEST• The creation and destruction of harmonic and 'statistical' tensions is essential to the maintenance of compositional drama. Any composition (or improvisation) which remains consonant and 'regular' throughout is, for me, equivalent to watching a movie with only 'good guys' in it, or eating cottage cheese• Stupidity is the basic building block of the universe• Tobacco is my favourite vegetable• You drank beer, you played golf, you watched football - WE EVOLVED!• Interviewer: "So Frank, you have long hair. Does that make you a woman?" FZ: "You have a wooden leg. Does that make you a table?"

Monday, September 7, 2009

Last night, on Carte Blanche, they showed the latest “Virtual” trend. The site’s name is second life and basically that is exactly what it is. It is your chance to create a second life for yourself, where you can be whatever you always wanted to be. They even had a stay at home mom, who opened a strip club on the web.

According to the creators of second life: “Second life was launched in 2003 and has since grown to become the virtual world leader—owning 90 percent of the market—with a profitable, stable, and growing business. Eighteen million people have registered in Second Life from over 150 countries and this virtual world work solution has already been chosen by hundreds of enterprises, governments, and educational institutions. In 2006, it has grown to include more than 250 organizations from around the world that offer strategy, design, building, and marketing services to organizations interested in creating a customized virtual work environment. We recently launched the Gold Program that is the first of its kind in the industry. The program designated 31 firms that consistently have high levels of client satisfaction, a proven track record for developing successful projects in Second Life, and a demonstrated expertise working with real world companies.” (secondlife.com: 2009) http://work.secondlife.com/whyslwork/whatis/

What is the really creepy part is that this is adults, working people, who “play” around on this site, and as mentioned they speak of this as being the being the future of business, where you do not need to literally get on a plane for a meeting, but meet each other on second life.

Does this mean that in the near future people are going to sit in their homes, living a virtual life, spending and making money this way? Comfortable, but scary if you think about this. The internet is taking over our lives. Instead of using every spare moment to play around on the internet, I think people should go outside, smell the fresh air for a change, go on a hiking trip and get back to basics. This will make for a healthier, more stress free future for all. But then again, that is just my opinion.

This quote summarise what motivates me in one sentence. I want to strive for these characteristics in everything I do. I want everything I do to be of excellent quality but at the same time I want to achieve it the right way. That is just the way I was brought up. I believe it is important to always show character in everything you do and not just to copy what other do.I also want to be known for my integrity, fairness, honesty and determination to do what is right. Unfortunately so many times in life, we will come into contact with someone who clearly does not show these characteristics, but get further than us. This can dash ones hopes, but as my best friend always says: The wheel turns and at least your conscience is clear.

Personal Autonomy defined means “self-directing freedom and especially moral dependence.” Other words for it is: free will and self determination Medical webends.com)Basically what this means, is that Personal Autonomy is how one makes decision when it comes to how they should live their lives, according to each individual’s moral context.

This will be different for each and every person, depending on how you were brought up, what religion you are and your personal frame of reference.

I for example, was brought up a Christian, so with everything I do in life; I strive to do what is right in the eye of God. All my decisions are based on this and what is right and wrong according to the Bible. This is just my way of making decisions, but each person will be different according to what they see to be right and wrong. Thus, the extend to each person’s personal autonomy, will differ.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The strikes at CPUT are really getting worst each year. This is my fourth year now at CPUT – Cape Town campus, so I had the “luxury” of experiencing these strikes first hand. This year, was the worst. It ended in me, not having class for a whole week, because it was too dangerous to go to class.

This is not the way things are done. If you want to strike about something do it in an ordered, legal way. These people are the future of our country, and they way they behaved gave me a fright for the future. They raided the canteen, steeling food and breaking down. The canteen is privately owned, it does not even have anything to do with CPUT. They broke windows, disrupted class, assaulted students, and mugged others. This is unacceptable. What excuse do they have for this? It has nothing to do with getting your point across, it is plainly barbaric.

There are ways certain things are done, and the CPUT strikes are not the right way. It is getting way out of hand. These students need to rethink what they did and realise that it is not the civilised way of doing things. They would have gained more respect if they protested in a legal and ordered way. Instead they threw a tantrum like a two-year old and lost a lot of respect from other students on the campus. I was disgusted when I saw photos on the internet of how these students were behaving. I understand why they were unhappy and wanted to strike, I am just saying there are better ways of doing things. It is the way I was brought up.

The other day I went on Facebook to find that most of my working friends online, chatting away. The same thing happened when I visited Twitter. This got me thinking...is this addiction affecting our work?

I don’t think one can truly focus on your work if you are constantly chatting or updating your status or Tweeting. First of all, when chatting you will need to keep the window open, which mean you will constantly interrupt yourself with what you are doing to check if you got a knew message and to reply. Same with twitter, you will constantly read what others are tweeting and update yours. In the first place I can’t see why you have to Tweet every 10 minutes. Seriously, there are more important things to do. This will only affect your work performance and end up in you not doing the best you can do. Even worst is how rude people can be, while you are in a meeting with them, they will Tweet or be on Facebook. This is very unprofessional!

Also, It is not a clever idea to invite all your colleagues and superiors as friends on both Facebook and Twitter and whatever other social network. There are boundaries, these people are not your friends and they might just loose respect for you when they see what you do in your free time. You should separate your work environment from your home environment. A woman found this out the hard way. She updated her Facebook status, stating how boring her work is and how much she hates her job. Her boss commented, in that case, if she felt that way she did not bother coming in again.

Facebook and Twitter have indeed become an addiction. Just the other day I heard on the radio how a women electrocuted herself while she was taking a bath, just because she had to Tweet and her laptop fell into the bathtub.

People need to break away from social networks a bit. There is a time and place for everything. Focus on what you need to do at work and put everything into that. There will always be time for “Facebooking” and Tweeting when you get home or during your lunch break.